Went a bit mad today and bought lots of new books. In my to read pile.

Bookring. The Final members of this bookring are:-

yvonnep-Netherlands (Read)
virgulina- Portugal (Read)
evicka-Canada (Read)
livelywriter-USA (Read)
WickedWordz - USA (read)
LFL676-USA (read)
InaPerfectBind-USA(with)
Katharine-USA
Spark-USA
Back to me -ShadowPi-UK

Will post to yvonnep tomorrow (Saturday 14th June). Please PM the person after you on the list for their mailing address.

Posted to yvonnep today. Happy reading everyone!

And today, june 18th, The Hours dropped on my doormat. I start reading this afternoon and I will ask Virgulina for her adress. It will be an afternoon full of lovely reading hours...

This is one terrific book! To be honest I haven’t read such a good book for ages. There are so many aspects contributing to the quality of the book. First of all, it’s beautifully written. It has the colour and the pace of the writing of Virginia Woolf, but in a new way, Cunningham’s way. Then there are all the explicit and implicit references to the original. In fact I felt the urge to reread Mrs. Dalloway simultaneously. For example: the Hours was the working title of Mrs. Dalloway. The ‘famous kiss’ is a central point in The Hours. Laura Brown owes her name to the polemic of Woolf about the realistic writers of her generation (‘Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown’). Brown suffers from the same existential doubts and frustrations as Woolf, but decides at last against suicide, just like Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa Vaughan (nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway by her friend Richard, the poet), spends her day in June, almost in the same way as Mrs. Dalloway 75 years earlier. And there is much, much more to recognize and to smile about. Nevertheless, The Hours is a dark composition, all the principal persons agree with the lament of the poet: ‘But there are still the hours, aren’t there? One and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, there’s another.’
But The Hours is also a novel with much compassion and in that way the book is a comfort. Life is miserable, but it has some soothing circumstances: friendship, love and literature. A writer who can revive this outworn principles deserves lots of attentive readers.

On the site of The Guardian I found interesting background information. I have put a print of John Mullan's 'deconstruction' of The Hours in the book.
Thank you ShadowPi for giving us the opportunity to read this book. Today I will send the book to Virgulina in Portugal. Have a good read!

I received The Hours in the mail today. I can't wait to start reading it as I've heard so many good things about it! :)

I don't think I ever read a book quite like this one! It stirred so many different feelings that it's a bit difficult for me to say if I loved it or hated it. After I read a chapter I had to put it down and just think, some things only settle in after a while. It is a depressive read at times but amazingly leaves you with a comforting feeling. This is a book that I'll really have to buy so that I can read it again!

The Hours appeared in the post today-- hurray! I will do my best to read this quickly (I'm currently reading 3 books at the same time...) so I can pass it on.

Sorry for taking so long with this book!! I'm usually not so slow when I'm part of a bookray/ring.

I thought this book was extremely well-written and also pretty depressing (knowing Virginia Woolfe's fate prepared me for what the book will probably be like). There's a hopelessness that comes through in all of the characters that is in some ways familiar but sometimes I just wanted something good to happen to one of these women. The author does an excellent job of combining the three stories-- now I can't not read Mrs. Dalloway...

I sent the book out a few days ago to Livelywriter in the USA.

I went through this book in a few days. I have yet to see the movie and would be very much interested to see how this book was adapted. Overall, I thought it a good book; not great. I won't spoil it for those who have not read it, but I enjoyed the passages with Clarissa more than the other two woman. Cunningham's writing seemed to me more vivid in these scenes, and I suppose living today I related to them more.

Soon as I get the next address, the book is off to the next reader.

Finally journaled this book. Thanks so much ShadowPi, for the opportunity to read this book. I appreciate it :) Hey, I have this ring with me, but I'm not on the list. Could you possibly add me?

I've finished this book and I must say that I've never read anything with such depth and eloquence of writing. The Hours is different from my usual reading, however, I am very please to have read it. Cunningham's genius is shown in complete style. How does he know a woman's longings and inner thoughts so well? At some point in each of our lives, I'm sure that thoughts similar to those of Mrs. Dalloway, Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Woolf enter our minds. It really makes you think, especially at the end, how time is neverending. One day, we will no longer exist. Bookcrossing will be a memory. The books we read today, will some day become either insignificant or antique. It is amazing how miniscule the time we exist in this universe is.
Thank you ShadowPi. My eyes have been opened :)
Sending on to next participant!

Just received today. Will finish it over the long weekend and send it on its way.....

This arrived as part of a ring/ray yesterday (or maybe Monday). Looking forward to it, but I have the last three books in the Stephanie Plum series to finish first (which I will do just as soon as I can). This book should provide a nice change of pace.

UPDATE 9/9: Finished the Plum books but now I have a huge project due 9/24. No pleasure reading for me till it's done! But this book is first in line after my work is done.